EA Files Trademark for ‘SimOcean’

If the word “Sim” in front of a word doesn’t make you think of anything, chances are you didn’t grow up in the ’90s. The developer of the Sim franchise, Maxis, is most fabled for the huge successes of SimCity and The Sims, but also created games covering every type of gameplay imaginable (SimFarm, SimAnt, SimTunes, SimGolf etc). Having been owned by Electronic Arts since 1997, the studio hasn’t tried to branch anywhere else with the Sim title after their acquisition – but that may change in the coming months.

Today, Electronic Arts trademarked the title SimOcean in Europe. Since this is one of the earliest steps to take in the development of a game, no official information about it has been released – likely, all that information would be tentative to change anyway. What it does mean, however, is that EA may be preparing to give the Sims franchise a long-awaited breath of fresh air. It only makes sense that the project would be handed to Maxis to develop, who are currently working on the new SimCity reboot. Since they’re currently hard at work on that, it also means we could have a longer wait on our hands if Maxis is to be the studio behind SimOcean.

It’s times like these that we can’t help but regret that Will Wright isn’t still a part of the EA team, since games like these were always where his design philosophy shined the brightest. Still, from the new designs and advancements that the team behind the upcoming SimCity have already shown off, it could be hard to stay skeptical for long.

For now, we can only take guesses at what kind of game SimOcean is destined to be. Will we be managing the ecosystems of fish? Can we summon sharks to raise some pandemonium on intrusive swimmers? Are we going to play the role of a fish trying to grow up, like the early portions of Spore? We don’t know yet, but we’re certainly excited at the potential this game has. We’ll fill you in as more details become available.

What do you think about SimOcean? Do you think it’s a game that EA should make?

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